City to study site for pedestrian rail crossing

CARLSBAD  Downtown Carlsbad residents could get a shortcut to the beach in a few more years. And to school. Even to the Village.

City planners have asked for a $100,000 grant to study the feasibility of installing a railroad crossing for pedestrians and cyclists at Chestnut Avenue.

The proposed crossing would serve primarily residents of the Barrio, one of Carlsbad’s oldest neighborhoods, which is cut off from the nearby beach by the railroad tracks running north and south.

It also would give beach-area residents a shorter hike or bike ride to nearby Jefferson Elementary School or to downtown restaurants and shops. The nearest existing rail crossings are at Carlsbad Village Drive and Tamarack Avenue.

A crossing at Chestnut has been discussed for years, and still remains a distant vision.

“It’s very preliminary,” said Frank Boensch, an analyst for the city. “The community has indicated they would be interested in seeing something that would provide better access for the Barrio.”

The feasibility study alone would take about a year, Boensch said. The grant money would also cover the costs of an application to the state Public Utilities Commission, which must approve any new railroad crossing.

Transportation Director Bryan Jones and other Carlsbad officials recently met with the PUC in Los Angeles to discuss the idea.

“We wanted to suggest a cost-effective, at-grade crossing,” Jones said. “They (the PUC officials) take the stance (that there should be) no new at-grade crossings.”

An at-grade crossing means the railroad tracks and walkway are at the same level, separated only by mechanical arms that drop when a train is coming. Those types of crossings increase the chances of collisions with trains, the PUC has said.

“They have asked us to look at the feasibility of a below-grade or above-grade crossing,” Jones said.

Grade-separated crossings are far more expensive because of the construction costs involved, The city’s feasibility study will help determine a “ballpark estimate” of how much those costs might be, Jones said.

Encinitas recently completed a railroad undercrossing for pedestrians and cyclists at Santa Fe Avenue, near Swami’s Beach, that cost almost $6 million.

Encinitas paid about $1.2 million of the cost, officials said. The city got a $3 million grant from the San Diego Association of Governments for the project, and the rest of the money came from state grants.

That project took 10 years to plan and complete. It’s the first of four pedestrian crossings planned for Encinitas.

Any crossing at Chestnut Avenue in Carlsbad would be an engineering challenge, Jones said.

“We have some large sewer, water and gas main lines in the railroad corridor,” he said.

An overhead crossing is another possibility, Jones said, but it would have to be about three stories high.

The city hopes to hire an engineering consultant who will develop an overview of the design, construction and costs for the project.

The Carlsbad City Council will consider the grant request along with a list of others April 30 as part of this year’s Community Development Block Grants.